


sticks and stones (are a lot like us)

by Take_Me_To_My_Fragile_Dreams



Series: The Dark In Us [4]
Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Alternate Universe - Criminals, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - Serial Killers, Bottom Eren Yeager, Bottom Levi (Shingeki no Kyojin), Gun Kink, Hitman Levi, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Knife Kink, M/M, Marking, Praise Kink, Psychopath Eren, Psychopaths In Love, Serial Killer Eren Yeager, These are all touched upon very lightly, they switch
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-07
Updated: 2017-10-07
Packaged: 2019-01-10 08:56:58
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,735
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12295785
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Take_Me_To_My_Fragile_Dreams/pseuds/Take_Me_To_My_Fragile_Dreams
Summary: In the end it seemed fitting that his happiness came stained in blood.





	sticks and stones (are a lot like us)

**Author's Note:**

> I tried to write for kinktober and this happened. I don't even know. 
> 
> This is pretty much a summarized version of Levi and Eren's relationship and how it came to be in the world of the rp their characters were created in.

There are things Levi never thought he would do let alone experience. Boundaries he had laid down long ago when he’d stood before a group of men with no family to spare, small and young and stubborn.

( _What can you offer?_ They had asked, some more lecherous than others.

His answer had been to rip out the throat of the first that dared touch him.

They hadn't been so smug then.)

Life had never been very kind to him. He’d been given another family after his first only to have it ripped away years later. Had put trust in someone he had thought himself safe with and had been burned for it.

( _It’s just business,_ Erwin had said, already stained in Levi’s blood.)

He supposes the long line of terrible deeds and memories trailing behind him like a shroud was the cause of his happiness in the end, but it still didn't make it any easier to face. He hadn't lied to Eren when he’d said he rarely felt remorse for his killings. It was a job, nothing more nothing less. A way to get by. An easy way out.

In the end it seemed fitting that his happiness came stained in blood.

* * *

(The story goes like this:

Once upon a time there was a rat. A lowlife piece of scum who had thought to take Levi, the hitman that never misses, out. Bleeding and at the brink of death Levi had had no choice but to stumble into the proverbial lion’s den. Or rather, the basement of two of the best--and the most ruthless--criminal doctors.

He hadn't been awake when they'd first met. Hadn't gotten to see the shock in green eyes when Eren had opened the door to the tunnels only to have Levi collapse against the wall.

He hadn't sealed his fate consciously. Driven by the anger of betrayal and the will to live despite everything in his way Levi had, in saving his own life, signed it away anyways, all in that first night of unconscious surgery.)

* * *

There was always pain with Eren. Physical, mental. Both had eased a long time ago, when biting words and calculating eyes had slipped into trust and devotion. They'd made the worst mistake a criminal could make in trusting one another, and yet it had been the best worst mistake they could have ever made in the end.

( _What are you doin’?_ Levi had whispered, frozen in place at the sight of a broad back. The weight of Eren’s knife had been heavy in his hand even as his fingers had loosened.

 _I’m turning my back,_ Eren had answered. His voice had trembled around the edges when it was normally so calculated. They both knew what this meant.

It was the ultimate display of trust. In the face of Levi’s confession it said more than any word could express.

 _I love you too,_ Eren had said. _I don't know what love is supposed to feel like but I think you taught me_.)

Still, there were times when Eren slipped. Times when the abuse and conditioning his father had put him through got the better of him and all he could do was beg Levi to hurt and use him. Every single time his husband was reduced to less than his bright eyed self made Levi want to go back in time and make Grisha suffer. A bullet to the head hadn’t been anywhere near what the bastard had deserved.

Having lived years with one leg in the criminal world and one leg in the normal world it went without saying that Eren had immense control.

 _You could list me off of a textbook_ , he had once said, smile sharp and amused. _Top 10 behaviors of a psychopath._

Even still there were days his insanity got the best of him. Levi bore witness to that.

( _I bet I could compliment you and you'd melt back into a docile kitten again,_ Levi had challenged early on in their relationship. They'd been friends of a sort then but Levi hadn't trusted him. Couldn't risk it after Erwin. He’d wanted to see Eren both lose and hold control at the same time.

Eren had laughed, low and unhinged. His nails had been claws in Levi’s skin, mouth hard, eyes blazing. _Oh, you sweet boy, you don't know what you just signed up for._

He’d carved his name into Levi’s chest, a heart wrapped around elegant letters.

It was ironic that in the end Eren had stolen the very same heart he had branded.)

* * *

The scars covering his body were slowly being joined by those made of love. Levi made no attempt at masking what Eren and a knife did to him, just as Eren had no qualms about the fact that a gun with the safety switched off could have him orgasming in seconds.

Levi didn't mind bearing what insanity couldn't be contained by killing. The famous Bright Eyes was an elaborate and messy killer as well as the best damn lay Levi had ever had in his life.

It was worth bearing the scars and the potential danger. Worth giving up the illusion of control Eren gave him and letting his husband make his body sing. There were few weapons that hadn't been christened by Levi’s body. Few he hadn't felt kiss his skin, or breach places guns and knives probably shouldn't go.

( _Look at you,_ Eren had whispered, reverent and smug all at once. He’d twisted the gun inside Levi, making him shout. _You're moaning like a whore do you like it that much?_

His hand had been at Levi’s throat, body looming between spread legs. Levi should have known he’d lost then. Should have known that he was Eren’s as tears had spilled down his cheeks in his pleasure.)

* * *

There had been a time once, when Eren had wanted to kill him. When his eyes had lit with delight at the thought of Levi’s death and he had mapped out the beauty he would turn the hitman’s body into.

( _I’ll fill your chest with flowers,_ he’d murmured. _I don't normally kill with sentiment but for you I’d make an exception--_ )

There had been a time when Levi had considered it. Had been willing to give up his life and let Eren have it all. But he’d gotten too close.

In the end Eren had decided he didn't want to kill him and by then it was too late for Levi to convince him. Only anger could have turned Eren’s decision, and Levi hadn't been able to break the contract he’d signed upon waking up in the basement of Dr. J’s house. Not when a boy too pretty and brilliant for his own good had pranced into his apartment with a smile and a necklace bearing tags that spelled Levi out as his property.

( _I'm allowed to extend deadlines if I want to keep patients as pets until they've paid everything off,_ Eren had said, unaware of just how much Levi was afraid of him in that moment. It had felt as if his heart had been lost even then, hooked painfully onto Eren’s strings. _I've never done it before, but I'm willing to make an exception for you_.)

To live for one another was what they had decided in the end. Still, there were loopholes.

Eren couldn't kill but he could still hurt. Still paint Levi in blood and make him taste both sides of pleasure. Could still take Levi’s strings into his hands and make him writhe and dance like the puppet he was so willing to be for Eren and Eren only. There was a reason Levi still bore his husband’s tags around his neck. His debt had been paid but he was still Eren’s pet in the end. His to command and praise and punish.

Somehow, Levi knew Eren was aware of the extent that Levi would go to if he merely asked, just as he knew that Eren had carefully constructed lines to make sure he never pushed too far or too hard.

( _I would die for you,_ Levi had wanted to say, stuck in bed with two bullet wounds in his side and shoulder. Instead he pushed Eren’s hair back from his face, tracing the bandages wrapped around his forehead. _If i hadn't been there you would be dead. I’d take the bullets all over again so long as you're safe._

Eren had stared at him with something desperate and angry. _You keep telling me that my life means something and yet you go around risking your own unnecessarily. Did it ever occur to you that I don't want to live without you either?_

Levi hadn't known what to say to that. Eren had spoken of loss before, had said how easily he got over it. Somehow Levi had assumed his death would be no different. _I’m sorry,_ he had said. _I’m not used to bein’ important to someone._ )

* * *

Sometimes it still hurt Levi to know that Eren had been so alone for so long. Isolated and abused and shaped into a monster. Scared to let others close and with a long line of lovers that never lasted very long.

It always made something ache in his chest when he had Eren in his lap, trembling and open. Desperate for praise and the adoration Levi breathed into his skin.

No one but Levi had ever gotten close enough to give the boy what he deserved. No one had held him with the intention to give and not take. No one had been so gentle it made Eren shake.

( _Levi,_ Eren had gasped, looking overwhelmed. _No one’s ever done this before._

 _It's alright, princess,_ Levi had answered. _I’ll take care of you_.)

* * *

In the end he supposed he couldn't really have known that one day he would fall in love with a psychopathic serial killer. There weren't really boundaries to make out of the unknown.

It made sense that he’d floundered in the face of Eren. The man had sauntered through Levi’s defenses before he could even solidify them.

( _If your guard was up any higher you’d might as well build a wall around yourself,_ Eren had said, staring him down from across the table in a dress that really was unfair. They'd been strangers then. Enemies almost. It was nearly laughable now.)

In the end Levi had no regrets.


End file.
